Justice Minister Urmas Reinsalu (IRL) made an initial proposal on Wednesday to take nearly 1,000 public sector jobs to Ida-Viru county to increase the state's presence there.

According to the minister's initial proposal, up to 50 jobs from court support services, eight from the Center of Registers and Information Systems, 80 from state support services, 60-70 from the Academy of Security Sciences, 400 from the head office of Eesti Energia, 200 jobs in the competence of the Environment Ministry, and about 100 positions from the National Social Insurance Board could be moved to Ida-Viru county.

In addition, Reinsalu proposed establishing an Estonian language house in Narva, which would create around 20 jobs.

In his letter to the Minister of Public Administration, Reinsalu said that the presence of the state should be felt in Ida-Viru county, and therefore the number of public sector institutions and jobs had to be increased.

"If state institutions are brought to or established in Ida-Viru county, the knowledge of local residents who are less integrated about the operations of the Estonian state as well as the personal positive experience regarding the functioning of the Republic of Estonia would increase," Reinsalu said.

He added that according to present plans, the share of public sector officials working in Ida-Viru county would be increased by at least 1% between 2015 and 2020.

According to Reinsalu it is important that the positions to be transferred would take into account the situation of the region's labor force.

Reinsalu said that this were only initial numbers, but stressed that if there was enough political will it would be realistic to bring 1% of public sector officials to Ida-Viru county over the next two to three years.

Following the local elections in October this year, Reform Party founder, former prime minister, EU commissioner, and presidential candidate Siim Kallas took on the job of municipal mayor of Viimsi, a community on the outskirts of Tallinn. In his interview with ERR's Toomas Sildam, Kallas talks about local government, his party, the EU presidency, and perspectives in Estonian politics.